


Remarkably Sober, Very Undramatic

by Flame_Of_Ice



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2018-12-31 06:17:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12126348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flame_Of_Ice/pseuds/Flame_Of_Ice
Summary: True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.-Arthur AsheTrading punches with criminals is only one of the ways Peter Parker displays heroism.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ToFightOrToFlee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToFightOrToFlee/gifts).



> Earlier this year, a whole bunch of homeless people were evicted from the relatively sheltered spot they had found for themselves in the centre of Sydney. It made me a bit angry that they were treated as an inconvenient eyesore, rather than as human beings who were down on their luck and needed help. Hence, this fic. I can’t help but think that Peter would have been angry too.

Tony wasn’t really paying the evening news much attention until a familiar red masked face appeared in an image next to the news anchor’s head.

_“In other news tonight, Queens’ webslinging hero Spider-Man attracted a crowd this evening, as he attempted to dissuade council officers from evicting a group of approximately 30 homeless people from an inner-city public concourse. Using words rather than fists, the vigilante peacefully fought the eviction, facing off against council officers until they found lodgings for the evictees.”_

Tony watched as a local reporter went into detail about the council’s decision to evict the 30 odd people who huddled behind the kid as he stood there in his red and blue suit, hands up in a calming gesture, as he spoke with official-looking men. A dozen cops stood in background, watching Spider-Man quietly argue with the council staff.

Peter’s voice came over the TV audio.

“Look, all I’m saying is, surely you should find somewhere else for these people to sleep, before you move them on?”

The lead officer responded in a no-nonsense voice. “There are a number of not-for-profit shelters in the area that can provide…”

“There’s not!” Piped up one of the heavily rugged-up people standing behind Spider-Man. “They’re all full. We always check before we come here.”

“Be that as it may, you are causing a nuisance on public property, and therefore I have to insist that you leave. You have fifteen minutes before these police officers…”

“How are they being a nuisance?” Spider-Man interrupted. “They’re just trying to sleep.”

“There are health and safety considerations involved, which I don’t expect a costumed vigilante to understand.” Tony felt his lip curl up on Peter’s behalf. _Give ‘em hell for that one, kid._

“I _understand_ that this is the only decently sheltered spot within a five-mile radius, where these people won’t freeze to death on a December night. Where are they supposed to go?”

“That isn’t my concern. My job is to enforce council by-law, which requires that these thoroughfares remain clear.”

“How is it not your concern?” The kid replied in a calm, even, ‘please-be-reasonable’ tone of voice. “These are human beings who have practically nothing and you’re threatening to take away the only stability they have. How is a pristine thoroughfare more important than that? These are local citizens. Don’t you think you have a responsibility to them too?”

The officer sighed. Peter was wearing him down, Tony could tell. The billionaire grinned. He could’ve told them not to try arguing with the kid. In an argument, Peter could be bull-headed, forthright, slippery or disarmingly innocent, depending on the topic. He was annoyingly difficult to pin down or throw off course. These days, Tony tried to pick his battles with the kid carefully.

Tony watched as the increasing crowd of bystanders, attracted by the presence of Spider-Man, murmured in agreement with Peter. The tide was turning, courtesy of people power (and the people of Queens really did love the kid), and the footage showed the cops on the fringes shifting uneasily.  

“Listen…” Started the council officer.

“At least make a few calls first, and try to find them somewhere else.” Peter appealed.

The camera returned to the local reporter, who informed the audience that: “ _within half an hour, council workers had found temporary lodgings for the individuals being evicted, many of whom hugged and thanked Spider-Man before being transported to shelters across the city.”_

The anchor moved on to a different story. Tony turned off the TV and checked his Spider-Man-related social media feed where he found links to the story. He scrolled through some of the hundreds of public comments, which were overwhelmingly in support of the kid.

_You tell ‘em, Spidey!_

_What are we coming to when our most needy are treated like trash? Go Spider-Man!_

_Spider-Man is heroic on about three different levels – why hasn’t anyone given this guy the keys to the city yet?!?_

_This is the kind of heroism we need to make America great again #SpiderManForPOTUS_

Tony stopped at that last one and, unable to resist the urge, he re-tweeted it (and spent the next five minutes idly watching Twitter explode).

He then sent the kid a short text message, giving him a virtual pat on the back, before emailing Pepper and asking her to set up a meeting for him with three of New York’s biggest homeless shelters, ASAP.

If Peter could change the world through words alone, the least Tony could do was back him up with some cold, hard cash and a few tweets.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning here for bad homophobic language, used by bad homophobic characters. 
> 
> It’s an important time for LGBTQI rights here in Australia. The majority of us have just voted ‘yes’ to same sex marriage (I was slightly horrified however to discover that the majority of people in the bit of Sydney where I live vote ‘no’ – an excellent excuse to move down the coast, perhaps). Now the government just has to change our backwards laws without screwing the job up too much. Go people power!
> 
> By the way, this fic isn't a reflection of the attitude I think most Americans have towards LGBTQI people. It is just an excuse to watch Peter be awesome.

Peter was walking down one of the smaller back streets of Queens in his normal clothes when he heard the voices.

_Funny_ , he thought to himself, _how cruelty almost always makes a person’s voice sound a certain way. It doesn’t even need to be loud, it just sounds…wrong somehow._

The voices were at least a few blocks over, but Peter could hear them clearly.

“Where d’you think you’re going, faggot?”

“I think he’s off to find a cock to suck.” Sniggers.

Jesus, Peter hated narrow-minded, bigoted assholes.

“Or maybe he wants to be taken from behind. Is that what you’d like, you queer?”

Peter didn’t have his suit with him. He had literally just ducked out of the apartment for ten minutes to get bread from the corner shop. He ran in the direction of the voices, slowing to a jog as he rounded the last corner. There were three heavily muscled guys ahead of him, trailing after a smaller, thin figure who couldn’t be any older than his mid-teens. In fact, the view of his back looked kind of familiar.

“We saw you sucking face with your boyfriend the other day, junior. D’you know that used to be illegal, before this whole country went to shit?”

Suddenly, Peter realised why the slight teen hurrying down the alley looked familiar. It was Seymour from school, and these asshats were threatening him.

Peter changed tack and quickly ran around the other side of the building to approach the opposite end of the alley. When he reached it, he came face to face with Seymour, who had a taut look of fear on his face.

Seymour started in shock as he almost ran into Peter, before an expression of relief came over his face.

“Peter!” His voice was low. “There’s these guys following me…”

“I know,” Peter interrupted, taking Seymour by the arm and leading off to the left, down a side street. “Keep moving. It’ll be fine.”

“But they…” Seymour was interrupted by a voice behind them.

“Woohoo! Is that _another_ boyfriend? Wow, you’re a player, little faggot. Who woulda guessed? Can we meet Boyfriend Number Two?”

Peter heard running footsteps behind them. He and Seymour were still too far from the main road and other people. He turned around and planted his feet.

“Peter!” Seymour hissed, watching the three goons run towards them.

“Keep heading down this street, Seymour. It’ll take you to the main road.”

Seymour, however, didn’t move, so Peter pushed his classmate gently behind him.

The three assholes slowed to a stop in front of them. All of them were at least half a foot taller than Peter, and looked more muscled. It meant nothing to Peter, who refused to give so much as an inch as they loomed over him.

One of them laughed. “A queer with a genuine set of balls! Who knew!” 

“We don’t want any trouble.” Peter said quietly but firmly. “We’d really just like you guys to turn around and leave us alone.”

“And I’d like a million dollars,” announced the foremost of the three. “Looks like we’re all outta luck.”

With that, the goon threw a punch at Peter. Peter’s senses went into overdrive, time slowed and he saw the punch slowly arcing towards him. He took a step back to avoid it, gently pushing Seymour further back behind him.

The punch sailed cleanly in front of Peter and a look of confusion crossed Head Asshat’s face.

“Please.” Peter stood firm again. “Just give it a rest. You don’t like homosexual people. We get it. You’ve had some fun, now please just leave us alone.”

Head Asshat turned to look at each of his friends in turn, a slow, malicious grin spreading across his face.

“Oh, I’m only just beginning to have fun, cocksucker.”

This time he threw a straight punch and instead of stepping back again, Peter caught and held it.

Seconds passed and look of disbelief dawned on Head Asshat’s face as he futility strained to move his fist. The disbelief morphed into anger, which morphed into embarrassment. He pulled his hand back out of Peter’s grasp and shifted his weight uneasily between his feet.  Peter remained still and silent.

“Fuck this. Go on then.” Head Asshat gestured down the alley, in the direction of the main street. “You queers aren’t worth it.”

With that he turned and walked away, his friends hesitating before following him.

Peter heard Seymour let out a shaky breath behind him.

“Jesus, Peter. I thought we were dead meat.” Seymour was trembling. “I…that was…shit…”

Peter laid a steadying hand on Seymour’s shoulder. “It’s OK. You’re OK. Let’s get out onto the main street, shall we?”

Seymour gave a shaky nod and let Peter shepherd him down the alley to the street where they stood for a second, watching the crowds hurry past.

Peter eyed Seymour for a few long seconds before putting a hand on his shoulder and directing him towards the nearest café.

Inside Peter ordered a hot chocolate for himself and when Seymour gave no signs of ordering, Peter ordered him a second hot chocolate.

They sat in silence for long minutes, each holding their mug.

Out of the blue, Seymour spoke up. “It’s not the first time something like that’s happened, but that was the scariest yet. They were going to beat us up. Or worse.”

“Yeah.”

“That was incredible the way you stepped in like that, Peter. That was…”

“Seymour, it…I’m glad I was able to help. I’m sorry you had the go through that at all. Homophobes are shit.”

Seymour let out a rough laugh. “Yeah.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes drinking their hot chocolate, before Seymour spoke again.

“I didn’t choose to be this way, y’know? It’s just who I am…it’s who I’ve always been.”

“Yeah…I know Seymour. And who you are is cool.”

Peter chinked his mug against Seymour’s, earning him a small smile.

The next day Peter started his patrol by shadowing Seymour as he went home.

In his Spider-Man suit he perched on the street overlooking Seymour’s house. After a while a stocky blonde teenager hurried down the street, slowing only when he reached Seymour’s gate. After a couple of minutes Seymour exited his house, and made his way down the path to the blonde. The two talked quietly for a few minutes before the blonde put his hand on Seymour’s face and kissed him softly.

Smiling to himself, Peter webbed off in the direction of a certain alley.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've got a couple of ideas for one or two more chapters. Hit the kudos button if you'd like to see more of Peter's quiet heroism.


End file.
